Village
Borgo Sant'Elia
The market town of the hills: a church square, two bakers, a Thursday market and the best coffee within forty minutes.
Borgo Sant’Elia is where the hills do their shopping. It has the pharmacy, the doctor, two bakers who are not on speaking terms, a butcher who will tell you how to cook what you bought, and a Thursday market that fills the church square with vegetables, cheese, linen and cheap crockery.
The old centre is walled and small enough to cross in ten minutes, steeper than it looks, and best at either end of the day. At seven the square belongs to the bakers’ vans and the old men; at nine in the evening it belongs to everyone, with tables outside both bars and children running between them.
Casa del Fico is inside the walls; Villa Ginestra and Podere Alloro are a short drive. If you only have time for one place beyond your villa, make it this one on a Thursday.